IBM Extends Lead in Blade Compatibility and Innovation

IBM, the leader for eleven consecutive quartersof the rapidly growing blade market,* announced today the industry's first10-Gigabit (10G) Ethernet blade switch, from Blade Network Technologies(BLADE), and new open management capabilities for IBM BladeCenter.

IBM offers the widest range of networking and storage switches than anyother blade vendor, and has shipped more than 1.5 million one-GigabitEthernet ports to date. Borne from collaboration between IBM and BLADE, IBMis unveiling the Nortel 10G Uplink Ethernet Switch Module for BladeCenter,providing breakthrough performance for applications with high bandwidthdemands, such as video on demand, Internet protocol television (IPTV), andother mission-critical and real-time applications. The new switch isdesigned to work in BladeCenter, BladeCenter H, and BladeCenter T systems.

"The IBM BladeCenter ecosystem of partners and solutions continues to seephenomenal growth," said Doug Balog, vice president and business lineexecutive for IBM BladeCenter. "Strategic relationships with technologyproviders such as BLADE are providing customers with unparalleledperformance as they migrate to IBM BladeCenter."

The new switch provides multiple features for customers, including three10-Gigabit uplink ports with an aggregate throughput of 90 Gigabits persecond (Gbps) full duplex, providing breakthrough performance. Inaddition, it offers enhanced security with easy-to-configure Layer 2 andLayer 3 filters, as well as improved quality of service through trafficqueue prioritization.

"We see 10Gbps connectivity in IBM BladeCenter as bringing furthersimplification and lower cost-of-ownership to the data center," said VikramMehta, president and CEO of Blade Network Technologies. "Today'sannouncement is a significant milestone; Blade Network Technologies is thefirst to bring 10Gbps to blade servers, and IBM is the first blade servervendor to offer its customers the 10G connectivity necessary for theirbandwidth intensive applications."

The Nortel 10G Uplink Ethernet Switch Module for BladeCenter is availableimmediately from IBM in June priced starting at US$4,999.

Open Management Capabilities

IBM and Intel are opening the management capabilities of BladeCenter. IBMis announcing that it has co-developed and implemented, in conjunction withIntel, the Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) forBladeCenter, available in July. SMASH is a cross-platform managementprotocol that allows customers to create a management standard across theirdata center.

In February 2006, IBM introduced the Advanced Management Module (AMM) toprovide system level management across all BladeCenter systems. The AMMhelps automate blade management functions, and is based on open standards,including Linux TCP/IP stack, Open Secure Socket Layer (OpenSSL), as wellas standards being established by the DMTF. The AMM works in concert withIBM Director and Tivoli systems level management tools to provideenterprise-level management. Because the AMM is built on open industrystandards, IBM can easily adapt support for SMASH and other emergingstandards.

Building upon these open management capabilities, the BladeCenter ecosystemof ISVs and IHVs will be able to accelerate its product time to market withadditional tools.

-- IBM is donating to Blade.org a BladeCenter hardware validation tool that helps firms creating blade solutions to quickly validate their compatibility with the blade design pioneered by IBM and Intel.-- IBM intends to release a software developer's kit (SDK) for the blade specification supported by IBM and Intel, allowing third party vendors to speed the development of hardware plug-ins and management, while allowing them to take advantage of the features and functions of BladeCenter as they develop new blades and switches. For more information about IBM BladeCenter, go to: www.ibm.com/bladecenter.

* Q1 2006 Factory Revenue, IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Forecaster, Q106

IBM, BladeCenter, and the IBM logo are trademarks or registered trademarksof International Business Machines Corporation. For a list of additionalIBM trademarks, please see www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. All othercompany/product names and service marks may be trademarks or registeredtrademarks of their respective companies.

Media contact:Tim WillefordIBM Corp.978-878-3245twilleford@us.ibm.com

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